Wonderland
by Sanru
Summary: He never should have offered to escort the little girl and her dog home. Trick or Treat, Michelangelo.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimers: Not mine… poop…

Author Notes: I was sitting in class during break talking to the girl on my right about a Halloween party and realized that I have never done a Halloween centered fanfic. Nor a fic for the horror genre. Within the next ten minutes I was busily working on this idea and completely ignoring what the professor was saying as the lecture began again. Oops.

Anyway enjoy my somewhat pitiful attempt at horror/suspense (because it's honestly more creepy than horrifying I think) and some Mikey whumpage. This story was somewhat inspired by the game Slender which nearly gave me a heart attack on several occasions (if you've played this game you know what I mean).

Anyway, on to the fic, the poem in the beginning is called Wonderland and its one of the better poems I have ever written.

* * *

Wonderland

Chapter One

_When the cold wind blows,_

_When the silent bell tolls,_

_When the shadows do stretch,_

_Do not my parents you go and fetch,_

_I'm off to Wonderland!_

* * *

"MICHELANGELO!"

"It wasn't me!" Mikey responded automatically as he half jumped off the couch, hitting the pause button on the controller as he tried to remember if he had done anything to piss off any of his brothers. He couldn't think of anything but, judging by the way Raphael was stomping over to him, it had to have been epic. Raph only turned as red as his bandana when it was epic.

He was sorely disappointed he couldn't remember what it was he had apparently done.

Regardless if he remembered what it was or not, Raph apparently knew exactly what had happened. It would be best to play things safe. Plastering the most innocent look on his face as possible, Mikey beamed up at his older brother as he loomed over the back of the couch and glared down at him. "Raphie, my dearest, big, older brother!" Mikey gushed in a sugary sweet voice not missing the twitch on Raphael's forehead. Yup, he was steamed about something. "What can I do for you?"

"You can explain what happened to these!" Raphael snarled as he held something up into view over the back of the couch. Oh right, Raph's sais. And they were still pink. Frag it. "I uh… I was trying to clean them?" he squeaked, shrinking down into the couch cushions as if they could protect him.

"Oh right," Raph gestured angrily at the paused game screen on the television and controller still sitting guiltily in his hands. "You look like you were working so hard."

"Well this level is kind of hard and I was waiting for the-"

"Mikey! 'Cleaning weapons' does not mean put them through the dishwasher!"

When put that way, Mikey had to admit that sounded like a rather stupid idea. "How was I supposed to know that?"

Raphael's enraged face went deceptively plaid. "You're dead."

Mikey shrieked and jumped off the couch, absent mindedly tossing the controller up in his haste to get away from his brother. He was more preoccupied not getting tangled in the controller cable and didn't notice that the tossed controller struck Raphael in the center of his forehead as he lunged over the back of the couch at his target. It wasn't enough to actually hurt him but it did damage his pride as Raphael was thrown off balance.

Mikey was more than half way across the living room when he realized that he was no longer being chased by his older brother. Risking a glance back, he could just make out his brother's feet on the back of the couch while his head and shoulders were under the coffee table. Raphael was shifting about, trying not to flip the coffee table and everything on it onto the floor. He could hear the growling from Raph and decided that it would probably be in his best interest to not be there when he finally lost his temper and just stood up. Mikey didn't want to be in the same shape as that coffee table was soon going to be.

He vaulted up onto the second floor, causally waving at Donnie who had just left the kitchen with a fresh cup of coffee and looking perplexed at the sight of Raph's feet on the back of the couch. Tapping lightly on the appropriate door, Mikey shifted back and forth impatiently until it occupant bayed him to enter. He opened the door only enough to peek his head through and beamed at his older brother looking at him placidly. Incense hung heavy in the air of the room and the single candle sitting in front of his brother was the only light source. Leonardo was still sitting in the lotus position, waiting patiently for whatever Michelangelo had stuck his head in for.

"Hey, Leo, sorry to interrupt your meditation hour but I was wondering if I could go trick or treating?" Mikey said internally cheering. Leo was likely to say 'yes' to just get him to leave and let him finish meditating without a distraction.

"Why do you want to go trick or treating?" Leo asked, eyes narrowing slightly in suspicion as he regarded his youngest sibling.

Mikey internally winced but was able to keep his face empty of all guilt, "We never got a chance to do it when we were kids and I was watching a movie where they went trick or treating and it looked like fun. I don't think I have to worry about being chased by witches that want to eat me so it can't be that bad."

Leo raise and eye ridge at that. "Okay, and what are you going to go as?"

Michelangelo opened the door more and gestured at himself. "I'm already in costume, it's an original too. No one has ever gone as a teenage mutant ninja turtle before."

His answer was given with a frown, "There are too many enemies that know wh-"

"But Leo," Mikey interrupted him. He could hear Donnie downstairs asking Raph what he was doing. He was running out of time. "They won't attack me out in public, there would be too many witnesses. Besides I'll have my cell shell on, I'll call if I need help."

Leonardo looked torn for a moment before sighing, "Did you ask Master Splinter?"

"Nnnooooo…" shell, he did not want to go back downstairs.

"Fine."

"Leo I- Wait what?" Mikey said confused.

"I said fine," Leonardo smiled at him before he voice turned into that of a leader rather than an old brother. "But you will stay out of trouble and if you do happen to get into trouble then you will call immediately."

"Of cour-"

"And if you break your promise I get to take all your game systems for a month."

"What?!"

"Think of it as incentive to not misbehave."

"You don't threaten to take Donnie's wrenches when he goes to the junkyard alone! And I even asked!"

"Donatello also doesn't have a habit of getting into trouble like you and Raph do."

"Yeah but-" Michelangelo's argument broke off when there was a roar of anger followed by the sounds of breaking glass and furniture from the living room.

"Raph!" Donnie yelled but it was all but drowned out by the roar from Raph.

"MICHELANGELO!"

"Okay, Leo! I agree! I'll be good and stay out of trouble! Bye now!" Mikey said in a rush to his startled brother before ducking back out of the door and slamming it shut. He made it to the lair's door and out it before Rapheal had even reached the first step on the stairs. He sprinted into the relative safety of the seemingly endlessly winding tunnels of the sewers.

He may have been screamed like a little girl as he went.

-Break-

Mikey continued to jog through the sewers, moving silently as he listened closely for any sound of pursuit. Raph had continued to chase him for a while but Mikey was a lot faster than he was. He was pretty sure he lost his brother back near the Second Street run off and by the time he got back, Raph should be fast asleep.

Hopefully.

Mikey decided not to dwell on what could be. He had already forgotten the whole reason why Raphael had wanted to pummel him this time. Instead he began to think of what he could do. While he did plan on trying to trick or treat, he also knew that there were several high school parties that night and some kind of haunted house down near the 'burbs. He really didn't want to go that far though. He wondered if the skate park was going to be open late but realized he had forgotten his board. Oh well…He was not going back to get it anytime soon.

Sighing, Mikey rested his hands on the top of his head as he walked through the sewers heading towards one of the more residential parts of the city. While the thoughts of going to a party, playing on his skateboard or going to a haunted house all sounded like a fun, it wasn't the real reason he was out here. It was Halloween, the time of year that people gave away free candy if you showed up at their door in a costume. He had the costume no sweat. Now he just needed to go to a few houses, knock on a few doors and then the candy would all be his.

While he was preoccupied with his thoughts, Mikey was still keeping aware of his surroundings so he did noticed the sudden chilly draft the seemed to blow pass him. Drafts in the sewers were so common -especially when you were passing under a grate or ladder- that Mikey barely spared the time to shiver slightly and bring his arms down off their perch to rub over his biceps. He failed to realize that there was nowhere for the draft to come from. It wasn't until he thought he heard what sounded like a bell tolling did he actually start to pay more attention to his surroundings, uttering a confused noise as he focused on the sewer around him.

There was nothing.

He stayed still a few more seconds, slowly scanning the darken sewers around him but there didn't seem to be anything there. The shadows seemed to shift and move at the edges of his vision but every time he looked directly at them they stopped. He wrote it off as his eyes playing tricks on him and held his breath while he listened to stubble noises of the sewers. It was odd that he heard no drips or the squeaking of rats as they did whatever rats did in the sewers but it was more important that he didn't hear a bell tolling. Mikey shrugged and peeled back his wrist guard to look at his watch. It couldn't have been a church bell. It was only eleven eleven at night, way too early to be ringing the bell for midnight.

He blinked and looked at the watch again in disbelief. "Shell," he mumbled as he slid the wrist band back into place, it was a lot later than he had thought it was. There was a good chance that he had missed out on the all candy already. He turned, intent on getting to the surface faster, but instead of stepping on the smooth concrete floor of the sewer, Mikey nearly twisted his ankle as he stepped on the hard edge of something. He managed to pull off a semi-graceful maneuver that involved a lot of flailing limbs and his face to become intimately acquainted with one of the pipes running along the walls but he popped right back up to his feet. Rubbing at his nose, which ached, Michelangelo glanced down at what he had tripped on.

It was a music box.

He blinked at it, wondering why he hadn't noticed it when he was walking. Yeah, he really wasn't paying attention to his surroundings but there was nothing else in the tunnel even shaped like the music box. Curious, Mikey bent down and picked it up, shivering as another draft went through the tunnel.

It was a simple wooden box just slightly larger than his game guy back in the lair. It had a dark stain with slightly darker splashes all over it in what appeared to be an even darker stain. The lid had a slight indent where a bronze motif of a rhinoceros in a grassy field. One corner of the lid seemed to be dented and it marred the lower left corner of the motif but other than that the box seemed to be in perfect condition. Mikey opened the lid but no sound came out. He wasn't a techfiend like Donatello was but he could hear the small gears shift and try to move in the box. It was like something was gumming them up.

"Alexander," Mikey stiffened and quietly closed the box. There was the sound of dog whining and sniffing from over his head causing him to look up at a small grate above him in time to see a wet nose on a white snout poke through it. He didn't remember seeing that but it did explain the cold drafts he had been feeling. "Did it fall down? I don't want to lose it…" it was a little girl talking. Maybe only five or six judging by the slight lisp she had and how she emphases the first and last syllables of the dog's name.

All it took was a sniffle from the little girl for Mikey to stand up and speak loud enough for her to hear him, "Hey, it's okay. I found your music box. I can give it back to you if you want."

There was a pause before the girl spoke again, her voice quivering slightly as if unsure. "You can give me back my music box, Mr. Dark Hole?"

Mikey smiled at the girl's apparent nickname for him. "Of course I'll give you back your music box," He said mimicking her speech slightly as he emphasized the syllables in the word 'music'. "But I don't think I can hand it up to you." He couldn't get himself up high enough to even reach the grate, let alone hold it up long enough for a little girl to grab it. He glanced around for a sewer access seeing one maybe ten feet further down the tunnel. He hadn't realized that it had been there with the shifting shadows that still plague the edge of his vision from time to time. He really had to stop eating a bag of chips for dinner. "You wait one second, right there, and I'll bring it right up." He didn't remember this part of the sewer being under renovation for additional storm drains and access but that was more a Donnie thing to know anyway.

"Umm… Okay," the little girl said as Mikey walked over to the ladder and climbed up it. He paused when he reached the top and peaked out of it to make sure that the area was clear of all adults and any possible threats only to have a cold wet nose press against his cheek. He turned and faced his attacker, only to have a wet doggie tongue lick right up his face. "Alexander, that's not nice."

"No it's not," Mikey said with a laugh. "But I'll take that as a greeting any day." It was much more welcome then some of the other greetings he had gotten over his lifetime. The large white dog took a step back as he lifted the sewer cover enough to crawl out. The dog sat there, cocked his head to one side, both floppy ears perked up at him but the thumping tail assured Mikey that he wouldn't have to worry about the dog not being friendly.

"You're a turtle?" A little girl said in wonder as she stepped up alongside the white dog, grabbing at the fur on its shoulder as if to reassure herself that she was okay. Mikey had to admit she was a cute little thing with fluffy scattered bangs and two pig tail braids that went over the back of either shoulders. She had large brown doe-like eyes and she was wearing a pair of jean overalls with a long sleeve pink under shirt.

"Yup, I'm a turtle. My name's Mikey," he really didn't think that the little girl would be able to say Michelangelo. He bet her attempts would be cute. "Here's your music box."

She clapped her hands together excitedly and stepped forward to take the box as Mikey handed it to her. "Thank you, Mr. Mikey Turtle!" She didn't seem bothered by the apparent damaged and ran over to a small dark blue backpack sitting on the ground nearby, carefully tucking it inside and zipping it up. The large dog barked excitedly and jumped around her as she struggled to slide the bag up and over her shoulders.

"Do you need help?" Mikey asked after watching her struggle for a moment.

"Nope," she said happily as she finally managed to settle it on her back. She beamed up at him. "But thank you anyway, Mr. Mikey Turtle."

"You can just call me Mikey," he said glancing up and down the street. It seemed to be deserted which was odd. Even if Alexander was there to protect her, shouldn't her parents be somewhere nearby? "Where are your parents? You really shouldn't be out here alone." The street didn't look familiar and he didn't see and street signs nearby. He could have sworn he had been on every street in New York by now.

The girl looked at the ground and shifted back and forth on her feet contritely. "I wanted to prove to them I was a big girl and go to the store so I could get some candy."

Ah, she left her home without anyone knowing, that explained why she was alone. Though how she snuck a dog the size of Alexander past anyone he didn't know. The dog nearly came up to Michelangelo's waist. "You shouldn't have left the house alone, what if something happened to you?"

She looked up at him with fearful eyes and stepped closer to the dog which promptly licked her shoulder. "Alexander will protect me," she said with certainty even though her voice was trembling slightly.

"I'm sure he would," though he was just a dog and Mikey knew that to some that wasn't a real deterrent. "But you should still get home. Your parents are probably worried."

She fidgeted again before timidly walking up to him and reaching for his hand. He let her take it, frowning at her chilled skin. She was colder than he was. "Will you take me home, Mikey? I'm scared now."

One look into those wide, fearful eyes was all it took. "Of course, I can take you home." He could just say he was a trick a treater to her parents. It was technically true. Maybe he could even get some candy from them. "Where do you live?"

The fear was gone from her eyes as she excitedly pulled on his hand, "This way! I know a short cut!" Mikey let the little girl pull him along as she started down the street. "Come on, Alexander!"

The dog let out a bark and bounded after them, fur and ears flopping everywhere as he went. "What's your name anyway?" Mikey asked as they walked, wrapping his hand around her cold fingers trying to warm them. "Do you have gloves or mittens?" Holding her hand was like holding a frozen fish.

"Nope, it's too warm," It was warm out, except for that chilly breeze that was still blowing at random intervals. "I'm Anastasia Ritz but Mommy calls me Annie."

She had to say her full name slowly to pronounce it right but that just made it all the more endearing. "Anastasia is a pretty name."

She hummed, "You can call me Annie too if you want. I don't mind."

"Thank you Annie," there was movement off in the corner of his vision but when he looked all he could see was shadows. Yup, no more chips for dinner.

She began swing his arm as they went. Humming a little tune under her breath that turned into a song she softly sang, swinging his arm with more force with every step she took. "Ring-a-round a rosie. Pocket full of posies. Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down!" she jumped with her feet together on the last four words as if the emphasizes them. She then repeated the processes again, continuing to sing the same verse over and over again, swinging his arm in tempo with her words.

Michelangelo wasn't sure why but after the first couple times there was just something about the way Annie was singing it and the way the street almost seemed darker than it had before that unnerved him even more. Shadows were seemingly moving on their own at the edges of his vision but every time he actually looked at them there was nothing there. The cold breeze was back but he wasn't sure if it was an actually breeze or he was just walking through the coldness. As if they were walls or something. He found himself looking from side to side and then back over his shoulder but there was never anything there that would cause him to panic. He blamed it on watching to many late night horror movies.

And the chips, he was never going to eat Doritos again at this rate.

Alexander ducked around the corner of an alley and Anastasia went to follow as she continued to sing and jump. Mikey drew her up short with a gentle tug on her hand as he stopped letting himself be pulled along. The little girl stopped singing and looked up at Michelangelo, "What's wrong, Mikey?"

"That's an alley," Mikey said looking at the much darker entrance to the alley. The street was dark and creepy enough. He didn't like the idea of going into an alley too. He knew from being ambushed in dark creepy alleys that they were bad news.

"I know," Annie said with an air of innocence's that only a five year old could muster. "It's how I got out on this street."

That wasn't a good thing for her to get used to. "Anastasia," he knelt down and turned the little girl to look at him, holding lightly onto her shoulders. "Alleys are bad news and little girls should not go in them." She looked like she was going to protest and Mikey remembered the whole reason she left her home without her parents knowledge to begin with. "No one should go in them. Shell, even I don't like going in them." There the look of denial on her face was slowly turning to worry. "And I'm a big turtle," Mikey mentally added a point to his score as the girl looked at the alley with a small sense of dread. Hopefully, this would prevent her from wandering through them at night on her own in the future. "Is there another way to get to your home from here?"

The little girl worried her hands together and she ducked her head as she focused her eyes on the ground. "I know how to get back the way I came," she said somewhat lamely. "I don't know how to get back any other way."

Mikey sighed and let go of her shoulders, sitting back more on his heels. He figured she was going to say something like that as he regarded her. Annie hunched her shoulders a little more and he heard the telltale sniff that usually preceded bawling. Oops. She probably thought that he was mad at her. "Hey it's okay," movement out of the corner of his eye had him turning his head again but it was only Alexander. The large dog padded over to his teary eyed master and nuzzled her shoulder, licking the side of her face after a moment. Now he officially felt like a heel.

"Anastasia," he tried again. "It's alright, don't cry." He reached forward and tugged her gently into his arms. She resisted slightly but completely melted against him when her forehead touched his shoulder. "Shh, it's okay, Annie. It's alright," he shushed her as he wrapped his arms around her and rubbed gentle circles on her back as she cried. Alexander sat next to them and pressed his nose against the girl's cheek. Mikey continued to hold her and whispered soothing nothing to her until she finally calmed down. Even then he waited a little while longer before saying, "Are you better now?"

"Yeah," came the small voice. Anastasia didn't try and pull away from him as she sniffled and rubbed at her nose with the back of her sleeve. "I wanna go home."

"Yeah, let's get you home," Annie had probably been missed by now. Her parents had probably already reported her missing. Great, all he would need was for the cops to be after him for questioning. He wondered how much worst this night could be. Anastasia didn't seem interested in moving so he gathered her up in his arms and stood up, cradling her against his chest as she grabbed onto the edge of his plastron. She was a lot lighter than he thought she was going to be. Alexander perked up as he began walking toward the alley, tail wagging again if a little less enthusiastically.

Michelangelo peered into the dark alley. He really didn't like this idea. "Are you sure you came this way?" he gulped nervously. He tried to figure out how a little girl had enough courage to walk into this alley to begin with. The shadows within it made the dumpster and trash can almost indistinguishable as they stood against the wall to his left. There was a fire escape on the wall on the right that was creaking slightly as if it couldn't hold up its own weight. He looked towards the far end of the alley -little more than a slightly lighter patch of darkness in the shadows- and licked his lips. There was a rustle from inside the alley but before he could panic, a chilly breeze flowed over him trailing leaves and little bits of paper in its wake.

How the frag did she managed to walk through the alley and not freak?

Alexander had padded into the darkness of the alley, a patch of white in the darkness. "Are you scared?" Annie asked him as he continued to hesitate.

"No!" his voice warbled slightly and he cleared his throat. "Of course not, I'm just trying to figure out how you walked through here. It's really dark," he mentally added that it was also insanely creepy. "I'm surprised you can see that well."

The little girl looked down the alley and then back at him. "It's not that dark," she said as if it was obvious.

"Right," he said as he sighed and edged into the alley. He really didn't like this. He just knew something bad was going to happen in the alley, it was straight out of a murder mystery. He skirted around the trash can and dumpster, keeping a wary eye on them in case something jumped out from behind or from within them. He occasionally looked over his shoulder and swore that the shadows were moving behind them. It had to be his imagination, shadows didn't move on their own. He gave the fire escape a wide berth as well, his shoulder touching the opposite wall as he past it. The fire escape really did sound like it was about to fall from its own weight. The breeze started up again and it felt like he was just thrown in a subzero cooler-

"BOO!"

"EEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!" Michelangelo nearly jumped out of his shell, jumping up and forward about six feet as he tried to get away from whatever had scared him. He stood on trembling knees and looked down at the source of his momentarily lapse of control. "That-that wasn't v-very nice…" he said in a trembling voice as Anastasia continued to giggle.

"You should have seen your face," she giggled at him. Alexander barked as if he was either laughing or agreeing. Mikey assumed it was a mixture of both.

"Okay…okay, you got me," he conceded as he walked out of the alley and onto another sidewalk. Instead of more buildings like he was expecting, Michelangelo found himself looking at a poster covered wooden fence on the opposite side of the road. Above the wooden planks, he could see the tops of tents and building as well as several rides. He was able to easily pick out the Ferris wheel and the large winding track of a roller coaster. He looked back at posters and saw a few proclaiming a travelling amusement park known as Wonderland was going to be there for the next week.

He didn't remember hearing anything about a carnival coming to town.

Anastasia wiggled in his arms to be put down and Mikey lowered her to the ground as he looked up and down the street. It was just as deserted as the previous one and oddly dark as well. There was something seriously wrong here. There weren't even any cars on this street and he didn't remember seeing any on the previous street either. There were cars all over the city streets, parking could be a nightmare in the city.

"Come on, Mikey," Annie said as she looked both ways before skipping across the street, Alexander barking next to her as he bounced alongside his owner. She barely paused as she grabbed the bottom of a plank and lifted it up and over her head as she took several steps back. The board had never been fastened on the bottom and twisted on its upper fasteners with a squeak as she lifted it. Alexander bounded through to opening, wiggling slightly to get his shoulders and hips through.

"Annie, wait," Mikey said and started towards the little girl. "Don't go in there."

"It's how I got here," she said looking over her shoulder at him. "I cut across the park."

"Annie, that's trespassing. You shouldn't be trespassing," Mikey was just short of running but it seemed to be taking forever for him to run across the road. "That's not a good habit to get into."

Anastasia opened her mouth about to say something else when Alexander barked excitedly from inside the fence. "Alexander?" she asked as he turned towards the opening taking a step forward and causing a lump of dread to land squarely in Michelangelo's stomach. "What did you find, Alexander?"

"Anastasia, DON'T!" he yelled and broke into a run even as the little girl slipped through the hole in the fence. The banging of the board settling back into place as it bounced off its lower support reminded Mikey of a chiming bell as it grew quieter with each hit. "Anastasia, come back here!"

The barking had changed in pitch, becoming much more dangerous and agitated than before.

Then Anastasia screamed.

He finally reached the far side of the street. "Anastasia!" he nearly bellowed in a halfway decent impression of Rapheal as he ran right up the side of the fence and vaulted over the top. He landed lightly on the ground. His eyes searching for both the dog and child, but all he saw were the backs of tents and a few boxes stacked neatly here and there. Guide lines ran from the corners of the tents and tapped into the grass covered ground. A barely noticeable fog hovered about a foot above the grass as it clung close to the earth. It was almost as creepy as the street but not as creepy as the sudden silence that surrounded him.

"Anastasia? Alexander?" He turned his head this way and that trying to hear better. "Where are you? Come on, this isn't funny." There was still no noise from either of them and Mikey found himself reaching to touch his nunchucks. Something was very wrong.

"Anastasia. Alexander." He started towards a gap between two tents, his training settling in, allowing him to move silently across the ground. "Can you hear me?" It also helped him to steady his nerves somewhat and he was ready for anything as he reached the aisle on the other side of the lines of tents.

He scanned the empty corridor slowly looking for any signs of an ambush or for any signs of the child and her dog. Nothing. He was looking into an aisle of carnival games. The various booths had odd shadows casting about their interiors turning the supposedly cute and cuddly stuff toy prizes into twisted and demented forms that were stuck to the walls. Mikey gulped but forced himself to move into the open. He had to find Alexander and Anastasia.

It was about two tents down from where he had entered the aisle when Mikey found something out of place. It was a simple white mask, sitting in the center of the pack down dirt of the walkway. The only adornment it had was a thin black line intersecting the left eye from the top of the mask down to the bottom in a straight line. It reminded Mikey of a scar he had one time seen on a Purple Dragon. Even though it was an inanimate object Mikey gave it a wide berth as he passed it.

There was something _**not**_ right going on here.

Where were they?

"Anastasia, Alexander," a soft, almost nonexistence noise came from behind him and Mikey whirled around.

As he watched, the shadows slid down off the tents, flowing like water as they headed towards the mask he had just walked past. Miky's heart began pounding in his chest as more shadows seeped out from the various game tents, joining in the cascade of darkness that was forming underneath the mask. The mask rose up and a humanoid form consisting of shadows wobbled as it pushed up from ground. The strange form took a step back to steady itself as Mikey slowly began to back away. The mask which had been facing skyward looked down at one wrist it held up, adjusting it as if it had a cuff on it. The shadows shifted over its body, making it appear as though the figure was wearing a tailored black suit. The thing stopped playing with its cuff and looked at him with the back empty eye holes, still holding its cuff up in mid adjustment.

Mikey felt his mouth move wordlessly as he stared at the whatever it was.

Around the eye holes the mask crinkled slightly, moving like skin as the thing glared at him.

It fingers flexed as it twisted its cuff, the rounded ends suddenly becoming pointed as they grew by several more inches.

Michelangelo found his voice and screamed.

Yup, Doritos were officially off his food list from now on.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimers: Not mine… poop…

Author Notes: Yeah, so much for a short story posted throughout October, completely failed at that. Where the shell has these last few months gone? It can't already be the beginning of January!

Shenza monchenso and Peechy-Keen you both get cookies.

Anastasia and Alexander are based both in personality and general appearance after Nina and Alexander from Fullmetal Alchemist. It actually wasn't intentional. I was sitting on my couch, drafting this story out and just happened to be watching Brotherhood. I wanted to have a little girl and a dog as side characters in this story and bam! Inspiration.

Oh, fair warning, lots of hurting. From everyone. If you didn't hate the shadow man by now you will by the end of the chapter.

* * *

Wonderland

Chapter Two

_I ride, I play, I see,_

_There doesn't seem to be any fee,_

_There doesn't seem to be anyone here,_

_There is something but its fear,_

_I'm trapped in Wonderland._

* * *

The thing slowly reached around and adjusted its other cuff, the fingers shaping like they had earlier, still glaring evenly at him.

Mikey started to lower his hands from his mouth slowly, completely unaware that he had brought them up in the first place. His eyes were fixated on the thing standing before him. "What the shell?" he whimpered as he took a step back. Michelangelo had faced ninjas, gang members, monsters of several kinds, other dimensional beings and even elementally bound sorcerers but there was something about this thing that made it even more frightening then all those previous encounters put together. He gulped and took another step back as the shadow man calmly flicked his fingers out towards him.

There was a loud scrap and Mikey jolted as he felt something on his plastron. He glanced down at his chest and saw a deep scratch going from one side of his plastron to the other. "Huh?" he said reaching up to lightly trace it with his left hand. It was new and it was in a mirrored position of where the shadow man had flicked his claws. "Ummm… Seriously?" he looked up in time to see the shadow man flick his wrist again, this time in more of a downward direction than horizontal.

Michelangelo hissed and jolted in pain as a thin trickle of blood well down the length of his right arm from shoulder to wrist.

"Oh frag…"

Mikey looked away from his arm just in time to see the shadow man swipe in his general direction again. He ducked just in time and instead of getting a thin cut across in face he felt the tails of his bandana jerk. The two ends fluttered to the ground behind him but he was more concerned as another stinging jerk of pain burned on his calf. He jumped off to the side avoiding another slash and watched as the dirt was shoved aside in a deep scratch where he had been standing.

He danced off to the one side, hissing as the familiar scratching feeling ran the length of his thigh. Mikey's left hand dipped into one of the hidden pockets in his belt and with a well-practiced flick of his wrist, released three surikens at the shadow man. Two hit either of the shadow's shoulders and the third ricocheted off the white mask.

The thing let out a high pitch whine that escalated into a screech that had Mikey covering his ears. Even as he winced in pain, his jaw dropped in horror as the shadow arched back and twist in an entirely unhuman way. As its body undulated grossly with its scream Mikey staggered backwards several more steps and stumbled against one of the game counters. The screech continued and the thing dipped its mask face down and threw its arms open wide. The screech changing in pitch to deep octave making it seem more like a roar.

"You… don't like your mask being hit do you?" Mikey asked in a weak voice as he watched the shadow man lean back only to lunge forward.

Mikey screamed and leaped away from the counter, tucking into a roll as he went. The counter and tent that he had been in front of were slashed apart by furious claws. Mikey had to duck several smaller pieces as they flew towards him. The creature screamed again and turned back to him, throwing the largest piece of the counter at him in the same movement even though Mikey was positive it hadn't been touching it in anyway.

Mikey side stepped the counter as it sailed by and caught one of the white balls that fell from it. Lining up like a pro baseball pitcher, Mikey set his form and drew his arm back. "Batter up!" he yelled as he threw a fast ball, catching the mask dead center in the middle of the mask.

There was a dull 'thunk' as the baseball connected and, as if it was smoke, the shadow man vanished. The mask fell to ground were it wobbled for a moment before laying still again, as if it was still laying in the middle of the path. Michelangelo relaxed his stance, the fairgrounds going back to as silent as they were when he first arrived. If it wasn't for the demolished tent and the stinging scratches on his torso it was as if nothing had ever happened.

He sighed in relief as he glanced himself over quickly to make sure that the scratches were just that and not growing in size or smoking or something else even more freaky. Mikey sighed and glanced up and down the path between the rows of tents he was in, hoping that the little girl and her dog hadn't run into whatever the shell that mask thing was. He rubbed at his arms as a chilled draft seem to run down the back of his shell. Something really weird was going on ever since he left the sewers.

He upped the weirdness level when he noticed that the mask was gone.

"What the shell?" he breathed as he took a step towards where it had been before deciding against it. Weird events (that couldn't all be blamed on Doritios), check. Random cold drafts, check. Creepy settings, check. A strange _thing_ with supernatural speed, strength and all around freakiness, check. Michelangelo whined as he looked about with apprehension. "It figures," he whimpered as he spun around to check the area behind him as he began to back away from everything. "It's Halloween night and I j-just had to step into a horror movie."

"Please tell me this is a dream. This is a dream. It has to be a dream. It has to be a-" he had been looking around himself the entire time he had been repeating his mantra trying not to let anything get behind him. Things always attacked from behind the main character in the movies. A flash of white at about head level, was what caught his eye and made him pause in repeating himself. He whined again as he looked and saw the shadow man standing near a set of tents about thirty feet from him.

The shadow raised a hand and flicked at its cuff link calmly.

Mikey promptly screamed.

He was moving before he was even thinking, sliding the top of his foot underneath a piece of wood and flipping it up high enough for him to snatch out of the air. He threw it with an exaggerated flick of his wrist causing the piece of wood to spin through the air as if it was a Frisbee. It ricocheted off the white mask before the shadow man could even adjust his other cuff. Mikey was prepared to cover his ears for the loud screech and was ready to watch the contorting form with no small amount of spine tingling creeps but the shadow just seemed to dissipate again. Only this time the mask just seemed to vanish into thin air.

"Oh great," Mikey said looking around at the deserted game booths. "This is just what I need. It can vanish." He spun around in a circle worrying his hands together before tentative pulling his nunchakus from his belt. He spun them up to speed as he continued to look around trying to spot the mask as he chewed rigorously on his lip. His over active imagination was proving to be his downfall as it constantly kept giving various movie scenes from all matter of horror movies on what his probably death could be. It was doing nothing to settle his nerves.

A flash of white had him jumping straight up in the air and stumbling away with his landing as the momentum of his nunchakus through him slightly off balance. He managed to catch himself and face the shadow man again, ready to knock the white mask clean off his face, only to blink stupidly at the white rag hanging from a hook inside the tent next to him. He let out a shaky breath and rubbed at his forehead with the back of his hand. He was getting worked up over nothing. "I need to calm down…" he muttered to himself and glanced off to his left.

He looked just in time to see the white mask peek around the corner of a tent less than ten feet away.

He didn't even bother screaming this time. A sound that could only be described as a squeak escaped him before he turned and bolted in the opposite direction. Fight or flight reaction kicking in telling him to beat shell out of there. Arms pumping in an opposite pattern as his legs, he ran as fast as he could, clutching his nunchakus like a life line, as he continued blindly forward not caring where he ended up.

He found himself forced to turn a corner when as the path continued away from the corner of the fence. He was now heading in a vague direction towards the large Ferris Wheel which seemed to be somewhere near the middle of the fairgrounds. Mikey glanced over his shoulder, expecting to see the shadow man chasing after him only to see nothing behind him. He slowed to a walk, looking around to see if the masked shadow was just going to appear out of nowhere again.

After a few minutes of just looking around and holding his breath for a few seconds to better hear the area around him, Michelangelo let out a relieved breath. At least he had lost that thing for now. From some of the more shell raising events in the past, he knew better than to stay in one place and began to move again, all but tip toeing down the path as he headed towards the Ferris Wheel.

Mikey listened closely for sounds of pursuit or from anything like a barking dog or screaming child. Anastasia and Alexander where somewhere in the park, he was sure of it, he just had to figure out where they were. Silently, Mikey hoped that they hadn't run into that masked shadow thing. The high pitched scream of fear that came from Annie had him fearing the worst. He only hoped that the girl had managed to somehow run away.

A tingling feeling seemed to run up the back of his spine and Mikey paused for a moment, almost dreading the thought of turning around. He risked a quick peek and then a slightly longer one when he didn't see anything at first. He breathed a sigh of relief and started moving again. He wasn't sure what was worst. Dealing with the shadow man or waiting for him to pop out of nowhere.

Which just so happened to be right in front of him, apparently.

Mikey screamed again as he leaped backwards, a familiar scratching sensation burning across his shoulder. He had been looking forward again when the shadow man seemed to slide out from behind a pole that was much smaller than his mask, let alone the rest of him. He really didn't have a chance to think about that too much before the man was lunging forward, arms opened wide as if he was going to hug Mikey. He had seen way too many vampire movies to assume anything about the hug was going to be pleasant.

Mikey dropped all his weight onto his one foot and spun low on it as he evaded the creature's attack. He ducked underneath its out stretched arm, keeping his own arms in close to his chest as he moved. He rose as he came out of the spin, letting loose one end of his nunchakus' and whipped it around with the full momentum of his movement into the back of the thing's head. If it had been a normal human, Michelangelo would have never pulled off such a move, knowing it could fracture a man's skull into a spider web of cracks. This thing, however, was fair game and the nunchaku sailed right through the black shadowed head and hit the back of the mask with enough force that it sailed down the aisle Mikey had just crept down.

Mikey didn't bother to see what became of the mask after he hit it. Instead he was off and running again as soon as the shadows vanished in another puff of smoke. The creature howled behind him and Mikey felt a chill race over him as if a powerful wind was rushing down the aisle towards him. He didn't dare look back as he ran but instinctively knew that whatever the shadow man had done he couldn't out run it this time. The door to the House of Mirrors was coming up and Mikey scrambled through the open doorway in a rush, hoping that the sudden change of direction would confuse it enough to make it pass by so he could at least gather his wits.

The minute he stepped through the doorway, he stumbled to his knees and everything just seemed to stop. For the first time since entering the fairgrounds, Mikey felt warm. The feeling of being watched that he hadn't noticed before was gone and the strange anxiety driven panic that had been curling itself through his stomach was missing. He glanced back out the door, expecting to see the shadow man looming there but only saw the blank emptiness that he would have expected to see in a creepy desolate fairground. He looked down at his cut and bleeding thigh and then back outside again, it almost seemed brighter in the House of Mirrors than it was outside.

Mikey rose shakily to his feet and walked deeper into the maze, followed by several of his identical twins as they were reflected back to him. He tucked away his 'chucks and rubbed at his face. He felt tired and let his shoulders sag a bit as all the adrenaline seemed to drain out of his body and leave behind nothing but exhaustion. He wanted to take a nap but he knew there was still too much he had to do first.

He had to find Annie and Alexander, figure out how to get them out of the fairgrounds and a better way to avoid the shadow man instead of just hitting and knock the mask off. He reached into his belt and pulled out his shell cell, ready to call in the reinforcements. He was going to need all the help he could get. Pressing the button that would put him through to Leo, Mikey held the phone to his ear and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

He drew the phone back away from his ear and looked at it in puzzlement. He hadn't even heard the line ring through which was weird. He pressed the speed dial for Leo's phone again and watched the phone as if that would make it ring through. Still nothing happened and because he was now looking at it, Mikey realized that the little screen that usually lit up when he tried to get ahold of anyone (and displayed the numbers for important business like the pizza parlor down the street from Apirl and Casey's) stayed black.

He went through all the numbers on his phone (including the pizza parlor) trying to get someone to answer. He even tried the 'shake-it-till-it-works' method and even the 'throw-it-angerily-on-the-floor-then-rush-to-its-side-and-make-sure-it-didn't-break' trick but, no matter what he did, Mikey could get the phone to work. He knew it couldn't be out of battery life. He had charged it earlier that day.

"Oh frag," he mumbled to himself and tucked the useless electronic back in his belt. He really wanted to just throw it on the ground and jump on it a few times but he doubted that Donatello would be particularly happy about that. Bad enough that he had done whatever to make it stay off, Donnie was going to kill him for breaking another phone so soon after the last one. He pushed back his wrist band to check to see how much time passed. Leo would come looking for him if it got late enough.

His watch was still reading eleven eleven at night.

Mikey squeaked and extended his arm out away from him as far as he could as if he was expecting it to attack him. To be honest -with everything that had happened- it wouldn't have surprised him at all if his watch somehow gained a mind of its own and bit him. It would have been the icing on the cake.

After several seconds of his watch remaining as an inanimate object, Mikey tentatively brought his hand back and examined the watch. The hands weren't moving and he didn't hear anything from its internal workings. It was like the watch had just stopped on its own.

Half expecting to see something from a parallel dimension at any moment, Mikey and all of his mirror twins glanced from side to side. As far as he could tell he was still alone but if he remembered right as long as it remained eleven eleven there was a chance of _something _appearing. Unless that was what the shadow man really was. A denizen of another other plane? It certainly explained a lot. Like how he could bend shadows and slide out from behind objects too small to really hide him.

It took Mikey another minute of looking around to realize that this was the longest it had been since he had seen the shadow man or felt chilled. If this was anything like a standard monster movie then there should be something that the monster had a weakness to. Was the shadow man afraid of its appearance? Mikey and his twins stared at each other as he thought. How the frag was he going to carry around a mirror to test this?

His musing was cut off by a terrified scream that echoed from the open doorway throughout the Hall of Mirrors. Mikey looked towards the door, muttering angrily under his breath as he started for it. He couldn't believe how stupid he was. Anastasia and Alexander were still out there in the fairgrounds. Did the shadow man go after them because he had ducked in here?

Mikey was running out the door even as Alexander started barking. It was something that Mikey was glad for. The constant sound was all he needed to orientate himself on the dog's and hopefully child's location. He pulled his nunchakus' from his belt as he ran, gritting his teeth together when he heard a pain yip come from the dog and Annie yelling for her pet. The dog's barking and growling was growing more vicious but desperate as Mikey drew closure to the sound. A sudden pained 'yip' came from the dog and Mikey put both nunchakus in one hand while pulling a suriken from his belt as he rounded the final corner.

His gated staggered as he took in the scene laid out before him. Anastasia was up against a wall holding her arm. The sight of blood splattered on her check made Mikey's stomach drop down to the sole of his left foot. She was hurt and Alexander wasn't doing much better, the large white dog was splattered with red all across its left side and there was a bright red strip going right across the top of his muzzle. It was no longer the large playful dog he had seen earlier with its lips peeled back in a viscous snarl. The growl he was producing sounded more like one of Raphael's amplified through a megaphone.

And then there was the shadow man, looking completely unharmed, his long talon-like fingers dripping with blood.

It wasn't often that Michelangelo lost his temper. He was a naturally easy going guy that had little in the way qualms about anything or with anyone in the world. That's wasn't saying he couldn't lose his temper. When he did lose his cool his tantrums could put Raph's to shame. There were two relatively easy way to do anger him. The easiest way to do it was to threaten his family. The second easiest way was to harm a child.

"You shell sucking, fragging SLAGHEAD!"

The suriken was out of his hand before he had even finished his sentence, sticking into the side of the shadow man's mask this time around. The creature howled as it reeled backwards from the hit. Mikey didn't give it a chance to recover, sprinting past Alexander with his nunchakus whirling. He all but pounced on the shadow man who was just starting to turn back to them.

The first strike from his nunchuku hit the shadow man about where his collarbone should have been, but swooped through his shadowy body as if there was nothing there. He followed that up with a round house kick to the man's lower torso. He felt a slight resistance on his skin as his leg passed through it but he still hadn't phased the shadow much. Mikey twisted his upper half around, feeling the bite of his fingers' scoring a hit on his arm, shoulder and low on his jaw.

He merely grunted and pressed his attack. Jumping off to one side and ducking down to avoid another thrust, he came up leading with one of his nunchakus held firmly in his fist, drilling the shadow man in the jaw. It was a perfect hit on the chin of the mask, knocking it almost straight up into the air. Mikey watched it as it fell back down, twirling one of his 'chucks as he watched it closely. When it was about at baseball pitch level, he swung intent on making a home run.

Which it was, he hit the mask with enough force he saw it ricochet off the Ferris wheel.

He didn't bother feeling satisfied, at least not yet. He swiftly turned and all but sprinted back to Anastasia who had moved away from the wall and was now sitting next to Alexander. The dog looked like it had all but fallen where it had last stood. Mikey felt a surge of fear as he tucked his nunchukus away and fell to his knees beside them, hands going toward the dog to check and make sure he was still alive.

He got a muffled whine and a small lick from the dog as he looked over his side and nose. Deep but as far as he could tell they weren't life threatening. At least he hoped they weren't. He then turned his attention to Anastasia and was met with a tear streaked and blood splattered face. "Mr. Mikey Turtle," she said with a hiccup in her voice as her lip trembled. It was obvious by the way she was curling her arm to her stomach that something was wrong with it. Mikey was betting that it was broken. "I'm scared," another tear rolled down her cheek.

"Don't be," he said scooping her up against his chest in a loose hug. "Everything is going to be okay now." He was careful not to squeeze her too hard, worried about her arm and any other injuries she may have sustained that he hadn't noticed right away. He slide back and took her small shoulders in either hand, "You can trust me. I won't let that thing get near you again."

She gave him a timid smile and reached over for her dog, "Or Alexander?"

Mikey nodded his head with confidence and determination, "Or Alexander."

That won him a small smile despite the tears and grief marring the little girl's face. He opened his mouth about to say something else when an ungodly howl that turned into and ear splitting shriek echoed throughout the park. Anastasia had covered her ears and had sunk into the uninjured side of her pet, who in turned whined and tried to curl around her. Mikey looked towards the sounds of the cry knowing that the shadow man was preparing to come back.

"Annie," he said urgently, scooping the girl up. "Hold onto my neck and don't let go." The girl did so with a little more gusto that Mikey had thought, "Urk! Not that tight!"

Michelangelo waited onto the girl eased up a bit before standing. "Come on, Alexander," he called to the dog as he started to walk away intent on getting them back to the house of mirrors.

"Alexander?" Annie said after a moment then squeezed Mikey's neck. "Mr. Mikey Turtle, Alexander isn't following us!"

He turned, holding the girl against his plastron to see the large white dog was exactly where they had left him. His head was up and he looking at the two of them with large sorrowful eyes. Mikey wondered if he was feeling what his brothers' felt when he gave them the sad puppy look. "Alexander come," he said and patted his hip. "Come on boy. Let's go."

Mikey had to give it to the dog. He tried to obey. The large white body trembled as the dog tried to stand and it was as it lifted one of its front legs to take the first step towards Mikey that the opposite front leg folded and the dog landed on the ground with a grunt. Anastasia's arms tightened around his neck as she whimpered her pet's name, new tears starting to track down her cheeks. The dog lifted its head, whining right back.

Another shriek spilt the air, causing Anastasia's grip to tighten even more as she huddled against Mikey's body.

He knew it was stupid, crazy even, but he just couldn't leave the dog there. Alexander had done everything he could to protect Annie and if he left him there –because he was sure the shadow man who kill him- Michelangelo knew he wouldn't be able to look the now out right crying girl in the eyes or at himself in a mirror for that matter. He rushed back to the dog and scooped it up against his chest, pinning Annie between them.

"Shell, you're heavy dog," he grunted and turned the other way. "Stop squirming," for the dog was, which was making it that much harder to hold onto him. Master Splinter was always challenging them to carry extra weight when go through there katas but that was nothing like carrying a little girl and a large dog around in his arms. Especially with the girl hugging his neck tighter and tighter and a dog that obviously didn't like to be held. His biceps and triceps were screaming at him before he had even left the alley where he had found them.

Laden down as much as he was, Mikey wasn't surprised to feel that chill from before coming back as the wind seemed to howl. He tightened his grip on the dog and girl as he forced himself to run as fast as he could. If he could carry around Leonardo's dead weight then he could sure as shell carry around a little girl and her dog. At least that was what he kept telling himself as he went.

He could feel that same chilled wind rushing up behind him and this time he noticed that even the shadows of the things he ran past were trembling. "He's coming," Annie was hiccupping in his ear. "He's coming." Mikey didn't need to ask who she was talking about. He was huffing, sweat rolling down off his brow, but somehow Annie's whispering, panic sobs gave him the strength to dig deeper and put on an extra burst of speed to reach the Hall of Mirrors.

He practically dove through the doorway. Just as before the feeling of being watched was gone as was the anxiety driven panic vanished as if stepping through the doorway had swept everything away. They were safe. A screech came from outside even though Mikey didn't see anything in the doorway. It was high pitched but sounded more like a wail of frustration than any of the other previous screams that the shadow man had let out.

Mikey backed away from the doorway, watching it just in case he was wrong and the shadow man could come into the house of mirrors. His arms were trembling with the strain of holding up both Anastasia and Alexander but he refused to put them down. His shell hit a wall and he braced himself there for a moment, watching the doorway, waiting.

After what seemed like an hour of watched the door and feeling the warm safe like feeling that the hall seemed to project, Mikey slid down onto the floor with both the girl and the dog in his lap. He was trembling from exertion but his heart rate was starting to even out and he took a deep, calming breath that came out more like a sigh. They were all safe for now. He looked down at the two in his lap, Annie was still sobbing into his neck and the doleful eyes of the dog regarded him sadly. He reached out and sratched behind one of the dogs ears as his other hand moved to rub up and down the little girl's back.

"It's okay Annie. Good boy, Alexander. Don't worry you two, we're safe here."

He hoped that he wasn't lying to them.

"We're safe."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimers: Not mine… poop…

Author Notes: And this is about how fast I wanted to be updating this in the first place!

* * *

Wonderland

Chapter Three

_The gates are closed,_

_The dangers are now exposed,_

_It was all a lure to pull me in,_

_I'm trapped in the same room with him,_

_I… died in Wonderland…_

* * *

Anastasia sniffled and Mikey felt even worse than he had when he had been initially checking over her arm. It was broken and, even though she was trying to be brave, it had hurt for him so much as even touch it. He had to give it to her, she was holding remarkably still as he finished the last knot on the make shift splint he had crafted out of torn t-shirts and two pieces of wood.

After he had caught his breath and took a few more minutes of convince Annie that they were safe there, he had stood and let the girl curl against Alexander. The dog had been busily lapping at its own wounds but had paused to lick at the little girl's face, causing her to giggle. With his two charges curled up together, Mikey crept to the doorway and peered out through it. After a moment of looking around for anything like the shadow man, Mikey told Annie to stay put before dashing to the game stall across from the Hall of Mirrors.

He had moved as quickly as possible as he searched the stall for anything useful. He took several shirts and a slat that had just happened to be behind the counter before he had the sensation of being watched. He slowly crept out of the stall, eyes checking over the shadows as he walked back to the Hall. He finally saw the masked shadow slid out from a corner of a tent about twenty feet away and glared at it, as if his stare alone could keep it from getting any closer. A low hiss filled the air and Mikey swore he saw the empty eye holes narrow right back at him as he took the last two steps into the Hall.

Michelangelo looked over his handiwork with a small bit of pride even though he was still mad at the injury to the small girl. The shadow man still had to pay for this. He let none of his anger show as he patted the girl on the head. "There you go, Annie. It may not look like much but that'll help a lot."

Anastasia sniffed but nodded her head, looking absolutely miserable as she wiped her uninjured hand across her face. A fresh set of tears were smeared across her cheek and Mikey let out a small sigh before turning to check on Alexander. The dog had been busy licking at his wounds and other than making a splint for his injured paw, Mikey couldn't really think of what else to do for him. He wasn't a vet.

With his charges injuries seen to as best as he could do given their location, Mikey sat back on his heels and frowned at the door. They were safe, for now, but there was no telling for how long the house of mirrors would stay that way or even why it was one in the first place. He still assumed that it had something to do with the mirrors but what if it was something else in here that kept the shadow man away. Mikey stood up looking briefly at the door before looking back down at the scared brown eyes looked up at him. He smiled reassuringly, "I'll be right back. I'm going to check out the rest of the building."

Her eyes widened as she looked over at the door and then back at him. "I don't want to be left alone," she whimpered.

"You're not going to be alone," Mikey knelt down and gently scooted her closer to Alexander's side. The dog paused in its cleaning to lick the side of his young master's face, prompting Annie to giggle and squirm as it tickled. "Alexander will be here and I'm not going that far."

"Okay," she still didn't look happy but pressed into the dog's side, curling around her splinted arm. Mikey patted her head again and smiled reassuringly before standing and moving deeper into the house of mirrors.

The house of mirrors really wasn't that big and the maze inside was a really simple one. It only had three dead ends and it looped back in on itself so that the entrance was also the exit. It was more fun to just walk through the maze and see how each mirror distorted his appearance depending on their angle or how they were warped. It would have been a lie to say that Mikey didn't goof off for a few minutes extra as he looked around playing with his reflection in various mirrors as he moved through the maze.

He stepped around a corner and found himself to the right of the doorway leading outside. He looked out into the rest of the spooky fair ground and wondered what to do. His brothers would eventually coming looking for him. The only question was how long would it take them to figure out what happened to him. The more he thought about it the more he was positive that there were no carnivals in town. All the weirdness that had happened to him right up to entering the park was beginning to add up into something that Mikey really didn't want to deal with on his own.

He glanced at his watched and wondered if there was another timepiece nearby that wasn't broken so he knew what time it was. He doubted that would work. If he really was in some kind of freaky alternate dimension then there was a good chance he wasn't getting out of it anytime soon. At least not without help. Donnie was smart, he should figure out how to open a dimensional portal. A sniffle behind him made him look back and smile at Anastasia, hopefully finding the little girl wasn't the trick to opening the portal.

He sighed and looked back out of the door. They had to get out of the fairgrounds but to do that they would have to get past that shadow man. Mikey knew that he couldn't continue to carry both Anastasia and Alexander around. It had been just dumb luck that they had escaped him before, Mikey wasn't going to delude himself into thinking he could outrun the shadow man again carrying both of them.

The idea that the shadow man was afraid of its reflection was still tickling in the back of his mind. He was sure that there was a way to trap a ghost into a mirror or something to that affect. Of course, he wasn't dealing with a ghost. At least he didn't think he was.

Still, there was no better time than the present to test that out. Donnie always tried to test things when he was trying something new. Mikey walked over and, using a shuriken, carefully worked a mirror free of its mounts. He carried the mirror that was about the size and felt like the weight of Casey Jones over to the doorway and propped it up against the wall near the door.

"Mr. Mikey Turtle?"

The small voice was partially muffled in the fur of the dog. Mikey smiled at the large brown eyes peering over the dog's side, "Don't worry, Annie. I'm going to try something to see if we can get past him."

He didn't need to explain who 'him' was. "But you'll get hurt," came the frightened little voice that became more coherent as the little girl sat up.

"Me? Nah, I'll be fine," at least he was pretty sure he was going to be okay. "No one can touch the Mikester if he don't want to be touched!"

It really wasn't necessary, but Michelangelo started humming the tune to MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This" as he proceeded to do a cross between the moon walk and the robot. It raised a giggle out of the girl and a few barks from Alexander as his tail hit the ground in a series of dull thumps. Still maintaining his dancing and humming, Mikey continued to strut his stuff right out the door of the Hall of Mirrors. He continued to dance to about the middle of the aisle where he spun about on one heel and did a low bow to his appreciative audience.

"Thank you! Thank you! You're too kind!" He stood back up and held his hands aloft as he turned back and forth, acting like he had just put on the world's greatest production for millions of fans instead of just a little girl and her dog. The giggles and clapping assured him that his acting was well appreciated. "Just stay put and I'll be right back to give you an encore," He promised pointing at the little girl with a snap of his fingers. Michelangelo could just barely make out the small pale face nodding enthusiastically from the other side of the doorway. A smile grew over his face that gradually took on a sharp edge as he turned away from the Hall of Mirrors and started for the last spot he had seen the shadow man.

He was not disappointed, with an angry hiss the shadow man seemed to slide out from behind a corner of tent on the opposite side of the aisle from where he had just peeked around before. He looked different then he had, while Mikey still had the impression that he was wearing a suit the legs were no longer defined. The shadow man seemed to be floating on a pillar of black that's bottom feathered out along the ground like roots. "That's new," he said grabbing his nunchaku's and spinning them idly around. As he watched the feathered parts began to solidify and rise up around the shadow man, wavering slightly until they were about shoulder height to the figure that Mikey realized was about four feet taller than it had been previously. He stopped walking forward and took a step back as the tentacle like appendages bent their tips toward him. "And that's freaky!"

A toothy grin seemed to spread across the creature's face, stretching literally from ear to ear.

Without warning the tentacles seemed to rush at him, moving so fast that Mikey didn't even realize that he was being attacked. He managed a high pitched scream as he twisted to the left avoiding the majority of the tentacles but feeling two score a hit. His shell was jarred as one skimmed along his back, hurting worse than the other scratches he had received combined. The second tentacle left a bloody streak right along the top of his plastron, just below the collar bone. Grunting in pain, Mikey fell down and to the side, tucking into a roll which saved him from the tentacles that hit him as they wrapped around the empty air where he had been moments before.

Rolling a short distance away and popping back up to his feet, Mikey watched as the tentacles slithered back to where they had been before they had launched themselves at him. He blinked, was it just him or did the shadow man seem even taller than before? "Dude, you're reaching an all new level of creepiness," Mikey whimpered as he took another step back, debating for a moment if he should just sprint back to the Hall of Mirrors and hide there until his brothers showed up to save the day.

He never got a chance to run back, as if sensing what he was thinking, the shadow man launched the tentacles at him again. Mikey put his mad breakdancing skills to the test, ducking and weaving through the throng of sharp, black knife like pillars that seemed intent on sticking him to whatever object he happened to be near. As he moved he caught the shadow man watching him, still smiling an impossibly wide smile, lift his hands up as the fingers began to grow and sharpen on their own.

He did not like that look, ducking to avoid a tentacle from pinning his head to the pole behind him, Mikey reached into his belt and pulled out another shuriken. He grimaced as he realized how low he was getting. He hadn't thought he was going to need so many tonight. With a flick of his wrist he tossed it at the white mask, hoping that it would buy him a few minutes, he was starting to get tired of ducking and dodging this creature.

The shuriken never hit the mask, instead it cut right through two tentacles that trembled and then fell limply to the ground. The shuriken clattered to the ground as well, all its kinetic force used up on slicing through the tentacles. "Figures," Mikey grumbled as he rolled to one side and back to his feet, jumping over two tentacles that tried to pin his feet to the ground. "And me without a slashing weapon."

All the tentacles suddenly drew back as the hissing filled the air again, raising and lowering in intensity as if the shadow man was laughing at him. Mikey braced himself, he didn't know what was about to happen but he had a feeling that whatever it was it was going to break his mental I'm-very-freaked-out-here-meter. A twitch on the ground from the two cut tentacles attracted his attention and he watched as they seemed to split slowly from the break, creating a tentacle with two tips a piece. "Aw shell," Mikey said as the split tentacles raised back up to joined the others.

He had to get back to the Hall of Mirrors now!

Clutching his nunchakus tightly in either hand, Mikey sprinted for the doorway to the Hall of Mirrors. He heard the shadow man laugh again as he ran and that niggling sixth sense that had developed after years of getting ambushed alerted him to danger. He jumped up, spinning into a flip as he released one end of his nunchakus and spun them up to speed. He felt the scratches of near misses but he didn't dare take that as an achievement. This thing was fast and Mikey was starting to learn from experience that this thing was tenacious.

Whipping a nunchaku around at a tentacle that strayed too close to him as he landed on his feet again, he was pleased to find that unlike the shadow man's main body he could hit them. The centrifugal force of his hit was enough to shear the tentacle right off at the point of impact. Of course, he knew that his victory was short lived as the tentacle began twitching on the ground before it too began to reform into two tentacles.

He didn't bother sticking around to see the outcome of this one, mostly because several other tentacles were heading straight at him. The shadow man wasn't giving him the break that he had last time, pressing his attack as if he knew how exhausted Michelangelo was becoming. He hissed as several more tentacles hit glancing blows on him as he ran for the Hall of Mirrors. It seemed to be taking forever to reach it. He hadn't gone that far away from the doorway had he? Maybe reality had shifted like it had when he was crossing the street, trying to stop Anastasia and Alexander from entering the fairgrounds in the first place. That would just be his luck too.

It was his luck. Just as he reached the door frame a cold tentacle suddenly wrapped around his one ankle and pulled backwards. He stumbled, dropping his nunchakus as he tried not to face plant onto the ground. More tentacles wrapped around his legs and body, trying to pull him backwards. He lunged forward and caught the door frame trying to pull himself free but realizing after the first few tugs that it was impossible. The shadow man laughed and he felt the strain in his arms as the tentacles heaved.

"Mikey!" Anastaisa was standing there just inside the doorway, hands clutched together as they pressed into her chin, eyes impossibly wide and an already pale face even paler then before.

"Don't worry," Mikey grunted as he resisted being pulled away again. "I got this!"

"But…" the little girl whimpered. From inside the hall came a deep growl and the sounds of paws staggering towards the entrance.

"Alexander, stay!" the dog would get himself killed if he came racing out here to help him. He needed help but he wasn't about ready to let the already injured dog put itself at risk. "Annie," she could help. It wouldn't be much but it should be enough for him to try his theory. Hopefully, it would work or he was going to end up as one giant sized terrapin pin cushion. "Can you tip the mirror down enough for me to grab it?"

"The one next to the door?" she said putting her hands down and looking up at the mirror leaning against the wall in wonder. It was about three times her height and weight but if she could at least shove it over enough for Michelangelo to grab it, he was sure he could do the rest.

"Yeah, hurry," he grunted again feeling his grip slip just a little bit. He was pretty sure that he was going to have splinters in his fingertips at this rate. "Just push it over so I can grab it. And don't you dare leave that building no matter what you hear!" If he was wrong he didn't want the little girl running outside and dying too. Hopefully, if worse did come to worse, she could explain everything to his brothers when they got here.

She vanished from view and a second later there was a cute little grunt of effort that herald the mirror sliding into view. Mikey let go of the door frame, lunging for it and catching its sides before it could hit the ground. The shadow man hissed again and began pulling Mikey back to him, the tentacles seeming to clutch at him as he was pulled along. He managed to twist himself up onto one hip, ignoring the gravel that dug into his unprotected thigh as he looked at the shadow man that was fast approaching.

The mouth seemed to stretch, widening and elongated grotesquely as Mikey continued to watch. It didn't stop until the creature's chin was touching the ground, the maw now spanning over half the width of the aisle. "What did I say about being freaky!" Mikey squeaked, his fingers tightening on the edges of the mirror which reminded him of his theory. It had better work because the shadow man could shallow the entire battleshell right now without a problem let alone little old him. "By the way, look and see what I got!"

Mikey flipped the mirror around, holding it between the shadow man and himself like an impromptu shield. He didn't see what happened next, he didn't dare look around the mirror to see, but he heard and felt the results as the shadow man shrieked and the tentacles holding him let him go as if he burned them. The shriek continued, reaching a pitch that had Mikey wincing in pain as something warm began tracking down either side of his head seeming to originate from his ears. He could make out the tentacles waving and thrashing about the edges of the mirror but still he didn't dare look, wincing and squeezing his eyes shut hoping that whatever was going on would soon end. Especially if it meant making the shadow man just go the shell away.

The end came with the mirror shattering in his hands which had him very glad that he had shut his eyes. The shards of glass rained down on him causing small cuts of their own and irritating some of the larger ones that the shadow man had caused. Speaking of the shadow man, he wasn't screaming anymore. Tentatively, Mikey opened one eye and then the other, looking about for any signs of the creature that had been chasing them. It was gone. The only thing that even hinted that it had been there was a discarded shuriken, two nunchakus, the remains of the mirror and every one of the rather painful scratches littering his body.

Mikey climbed to his feet slowly, brushing off glass and touching at the warmth on his head. He frowned when he saw the bloody smears on his fingertips, that final screech had both his ears bleeding. He was wary of the surrounding fairgrounds as he went to retrieve his shuriken and nunchakus but he didn't see any white mask or shadows that moved on their own. The air still felt chilled but the feeling of being watched was gone. It was time to make their escape.

He hurried back to the doorway where both Annie and Alexander were standing just inside it. The little girl's face blossomed into a smile as the large white tail began to wag, "You're alright!"

"Yeah, told I had it," though he hadn't even been sure that it was going to work. "Come on. Let's get going while we can."

"Home's on the other side of the-"

"We're going to go to my home first," Mikey interjected. "You can see where I live. It'll be an adventure!" The girl's face seemed to brighten and she cheered as he scooped her up. "Come on, Alexander," he called forgetting for a moment that the dog was having issues walking. "Uh… if you can?"

He was slow but the dog limped alongside them as Michelangelo led them back along the way he had taken to get there. Nothing happened in their walk, the shadow man stayed gone and while the atmosphere still held a bit of menace to it, it wasn't as overpowering as it was before. He was still wary of every movement that he caught out of the corner of his eye, his grip sometimes tightening on the girl enough that she asked him to stop squeezing her. He didn't know why he was still so on edge, he'd won.

Hadn't he?

It was that small feeling of doubt that had him hurrying along, calling to Alexander when the dog slowed as they made their way back to the fence that Annie and Alexander had originally crawled through. Mikey sent them through and quickly vaulted over the fence, ready for anything that might have been on the other side and letting out a relived sigh when there was nothing. They were almost there.

There was no bending of reality as they crossed the road and the strange chilly breeze that had blown through the alley before was gone as they walked through it. In fact the air had been dead calm as soon as the shadow man had vanished. He still didn't like the creepiness that surrounded them as they walked down the street. The sight of the manhole cover that he had come up through was one of the most welcome sights he had seen in a long time.

"Okay," he said setting her down so he could lift the manhole cover. Hopefully by retracing their steps they could get out of this dimensional thing without too much of a hassle. "Come here Alexander, good boy." He took a moment to pat the dog on the head, rubbing behind his ears. "We'll get you to the vet and fixed up in no time," he picked Anastasia back up and she wrapped her arms around his neck as he lift Alexander in both of his, ready to jump through the manhole.

Pain suddenly exploded in both his shoulders as Annie screamed in his already ringing ear. The chill breeze washed over him as an angry hiss came from behind him. The tentacles that had pierced right through either shoulder wrapped around him, the dog and the little girl. He mentally cursed, he should have gone faster. He should have guessed that the shadow man would make one more attack. He shifted, trying to pull away and made a weak sound of pain in the back of his throat as the movement pulled at the impaled flesh. This wasn't going to end well. He didn't have to look to know that the shadow man was opening his massively, oversized mouth again.

"Let him go!" Anastasia's voice warbled strangely as she tried to sound unafraid of whatever was holding them. Mikey felt her arms let go of his neck and saw her roll her shoulders back as she shucked off her backpack. With an almost animalistic yell of anger that his spinning mind deemed as 'too cute', the little girl in his arms swung the dark blue backpack around with what must've been all her strength. She must've hit it in the center of its mask, for no sooner than she had swung it around, the tentacles holding him suddenly turned to smoke and he was freed.

Which wasn't a good thing, he hadn't expected to be suddenly released and fell to his knees as the pain and his own exhaustion finally became too much for him. The problem was that with the manhole open there was no ground for him to land on and he tumbled into the sewer opening. His forehead slammed against the far side of the circular opening causing him to flip back over and land on the cement floor below on his shell.

He couldn't think straight, darkness was rapidly taking over his vision as he stared up at the ceiling above them. He could hear the little girl on his chest crying for him and the frantic barks of a dog nearby but all of that was irrelevant. Even the fact that there was no open manhole above them could give him the strength to try and stay awake. The only thing that seemed to make any sense was the steady tic tock coming from under his wrist brace that happened to be inches from his ear. His watch was working again.

And then everything went dark.


	4. Epilogue

Disclaimers: Not mine… poop…

Author Notes: This was probably the hardest chapter to write. I rewrote this chapter three times and each one either explained too much or seemed like a cop out. This version is probably the only one I'm happy with because it was all from Mikey's third person point of view. I never wanted to bring in his brother's perspective to begin with.

And yes this is the last chapter. It was supposed to be put up through the month of October and was never meant to be sat on this long to begin with.

Time to try to clear up a few loose ends and give Mikey at least one last scare 'cause I'm mean.

* * *

Wonderland

Epilogue

* * *

A dog was licking his face.

He tried opening his eyes but the lids seemed almost too heavy. There was a distant feeling from himself and not in the good Don-is-here-with-the-meds kind of way. It was the feeling of detachment that honestly scared him. He couldn't do anything. He tried to do something but couldn't even so much as move a toe let alone as open his eyes.

Small arms were crossed over his plastron. Compared to when he had first met her, Annie was now burning hot. He could just barely make out the sounds of the little girl crying on him and the occasional whine from the dog as it continued to nudge at and lick his face. He wanted to wake up and reassure them but he doubted he was going to be much more conscious then he currently was. There was no telling how long he had been unconscious and -give at how bad he had been hurt before- he had probably lost a lot of blood. Too much blood to be safe by the feel of it.

This was probably the last time he was ever going to be somewhat coherent. He tried to rally what little strength he had to tell Annie about his shell cell. Her hands were maybe four inches max from where his shell cell was tucked in his belt. If he could wake up enough to tell her to press one of the buttons -any of them at this rate- she could at least get a hold of someone to get him the help he desperately needed. Well, except for the pizza shop, but with the bright red and pink button sitting right near the top he was pretty sure that she would hit one of those instead. He kind of hoped she would hit the pink instead of the red. April would probably be a lot kinder to her than Raph ever would be. If only there was a way that he could record that conversation for blackmail later.

He realized that he was mentally rambling to himself and tried to bring himself back to the task at hand which was… something important. He couldn't really remember what is was but it had something to do with the comforting darkness he was wrapped in. A weak sigh escaped him as he let himself relax. Obviously whatever it was couldn't have been that important.

The sound of his shell cell suddenly ringing caught his attention and he silently wished that it would just stop. Couldn't whoever was calling him realize that he was trying to get some rest? One of his brothers was bound to come and get him if it was that important anyway.

Something against his side moved and the feeling of little hands digging at his belt caught his attention. Who was with him? Mentally he frowned as he tried to think of who was with him. It was too big to be Klunk and his cat did not have hands last he checked. At least not ones that was capable of getting his phone out of his belt which was another oddity. Why was his cell in its belt pocket? He only put in there when he wasn't in bed. Wait, where was he again?

"Hello?" the single word was nearly muffled by a sniffle. Even though the voice was distant and echoed slightly, he could still tell that it was the voice of a little girl who had been crying a lot lately.

And what was that slimy thing moving up the side of his face?

More importantly, why couldn't he move!?

There was a deep inhalation from a tiny set of lungs before a seemingly mad torrent of words followed. He could only catch pieces of what was said as the little girl went on and on at a hysterical rate. He recognized 'shadow man' and 'fairground' which helped to remind him of what had happened that night. 'Bleeding bad' caused a new trace of fear to race up his spine as he remember the shadow man's last attack on him and then falling back into the sewers.

He had a concussion didn't he?

"Yes, Mr. Leo Turtle."

Oh thank you, over paranoid, older brother for trying to track him down. It must have been late for Leo to try and call him. How long were they wherever and how long had he been bleeding? It was disconcerting how easily the fear for his own life just seeped away to unimportant in his mind.

"Mr. Mikey Turtle? Are you awake?"

No, not really. If anything he was starting to fall back asleep. There was a reason why he shouldn't rest, he knew that, he just couldn't remember why. Something that someone had told him repeatedly at one time, oh yeah, Donnie had said that on- actually several times. Why was that important again?

"Mr. Leo Turtle, something wrong with him."

Leo? Nah, Leo could barely get the toaster to work right. He didn't know anything about medical… stuff… Wait a minute… was this all just a bad dream? It had to be. No way he followed a little girl to a spooky fairground, get injured by a guy made out of shadows bad enough that he was slowly bleeding out in the sewers. Heh, yeah right.

He relaxed back into sleep, knowing that he shouldn't, because of a niggling feeling that he wasn't going to wake up again, but it took too much energy to really care.

-Break-

He didn't want to admit how much of a relief it was to open his eyes to find himself staring at the ceiling of the small medical ward Donatello had set up in the corner of his lab but he heaved a sigh and relaxed into the crisp white linens all the same. He was home and judging by the distant feeling between him and his body, hopped up on a glorious collection of pain medications. He let his eyes fall closed again, basking in the warmth and safety he sometimes forgot he even had. It was so good to be home.

He hadn't realized he had fallen asleep until he woke to find Donatello standing next to him, messing with an IV bag and preparing to add something else through the small valve below the bag itself. "Morning Donnie," he mumbled sleepily as he yawned again.

Don didn't acknowledge him right away. He finished injecting whatever it was into his IV and threw the needle away before turning back to Mikey with a soft smile. "Try 'good evening'," he said as he perched on the bed next to Michelangelo's hip, reaching up and holding his hand over Mikey's forehead for a moment before continuing. "How are you feeling?"

"Fuzzy," Mikey said, giving the IV a pointed look. "Giving me the good stuff?"

Don snorted back a laugh. "Oh, don't worry," he said with a sweep of his hand. "You're on plenty of 'good stuff' right now and will probably be on it for the next few days."

"Cool," that meant he wouldn't have to go to morning practice for a while and he could sleep in as much as he wanted. Too bad Donnie probably wouldn't let him sack out on the couch and eat junk food. Then life would be perfect. "What did I do to myself anyway?"

Donatello quirked an eye ridge at him, "You mean you don't remember anything that happened? You must've hit your head harder than I thought," he gave him a worried look. "You don't remember Annie or Alexander at all?"

Michelangelo's eyes flew wide open and he tried to sit up right as he suddenly remembered everything that had happened to him, the little girl and her pet. He tried reach for Donatello to grab him by the shoulders and shake him till he gave him and answer. His mouth opened to demand the answer from his older brother only for all three things to fail at once. About the only thing he managed to do was open his eyes wide but that was more in a combination of shock and pain then just shock at his own forgetfulness.

His shoulders burned the moment he tried to lift them and the sound that escaped him was more of a high pitched squeak than a demand for anything. Donatello jumped from his seat and pushed Mikey back down on the bed, holding him firmly but gently so he didn't try to hurt himself again. "There is a reason you're on the 'good stuff,' Mikey," he said as he watched the sweat roll down his little brother's face. Slowly, ready to hold him down if he tried to jump up again, Donatello grabbed a soaking washcloth from a basin of cold water nearby and wrung it out. "You were impaled through both your shoulders, have numerous cuts and scrapes all over your body, somehow blew out both your ear drums, and you cracked your forehead on something." He wiped the sweat off the pale face lying limply on the pillow. "Not to mention how much blood you lost. You really shouldn't be trying to move around on your own for a while."

"Don't," Mikey croaked as the pain and shock began to fade. "You dare let Raph spoon feed me."

Another snorted laugh came from Don as he rewet and wrung out the cloth to leave it folded on Michelangelo's brow. "As long as you're a good little patient I promise not to let Raph shove anything up your nose."

"Lookie and see my halo," he mumbled as he plastered an innocent smile on his face. He sobered up really fast, "Now what happened to Annie and Alexander?"

Don nodded his head and resumed his perch on the edge of the bed. "I'll start from the beginning. When you didn't return by one in the morning, Leo got worried and called your shell cell. A little girl ended up answering it and begging him to come and help 'Mr. Mikey Turtle'. When we got there, Annie was still crying next to you and you had an injured dog licking you face. Raph and I got you stabilized while Leo got her to calm down enough for her to tell us that the shadow man had been the one to hurt you and he tried to eat both of you and the dog. Raph and I brought you back here and Leo took the girl to April who in turn took her down to the local police station with the promise that if she behaved that you would come and see her when she is all better. She was taken to the hospital for her arm and Alexander was taken to the vet about two days ago and both are currently back at home with her overjoyed parents and younger but older sister."

"Younger but older?" he was glad to hear that the girl and her dog was alright. He couldn't wait to get better and go see them for himself. He trusts that Don wouldn't lie to him but he still needed to know for himself that they were alright. "Why did you put it like that?"

Don heaved a sigh and pinched the edge of his nose. "Mikey. I'm not going to lie. You have a lot of explaining to do. April was held overnight at the police station being interrogated by the police, a private investigator, and government officials. Anastasia and Alexander went missing over ten years ago and neither of them have aged one bit." Michelangelo felt the non-existent hair on the back of his neck stand on end at Donatello's words. Ten years? Annie and Alexander had been trapped on that freaky street alone for ten years? They had been lucky that the shadow man hadn't realized that they were out there or they would've been dead before Mikey had even stumbled over the music box.

"So, Mikey, can you give me a hint as to what happened?"

He heaved a sighed and looked up at the earnestly curious face over him, "Would you believe I found them wandering around in a pocket dimension where time was froze and there happened to have a murdering, shadow controlling psychopath in a white mask trying to kill us?"

Donatello just gave him a blank look before shrugging, "I've heard weirder things come out of your mouth. Now try and get some rest, April is going to be here tomorrow to find out why she had to go through the third degree."

"You don't believe me do you?' Mikey whined at the retreating shell of his brother. "Why doesn't anyone ever believe me?"

Donatello just gave him a pointed look over his shoulder before walking out of the room. Mikey heaved a sigh and glanced around the medical room again. His eyes landed on a small, dark stained, beat up music box with a rhinoceros motif on it sitting innocently on the table next to his bed. He frowned, hadn't Annie put that in her backpack? The same one she threw at the shadow man to save them? How did it get here? He smiled as he thought of the cute little girl asking Leo to give it to him as a get well gift. He closed his eyes and relaxed back into the pillow intent on getting some rest.

The ring of a small bell caught his attention and he looked over to see the music box's lid slowly raise up, being held aloft by what looking like a couple tentacles. Several other tentacles slipped through the crack, one of which was split into two. A hissing over took the small bells and Mikey swore that he could make out the dark narrowed eyed glare from a white mask in the opening.

"**DONATELLO!**"

His terrified scream had the entire household in the room in seconds, demanding to know what was going on. It took them over and hour to get Mikey to calm down enough to tell them to get rid of the music box but no matter where or how well they looked, no one seemed to be able to find a small, dark stained, battered music box with a rhinoceros motif on it. Master Splinter assured his youngest son that there was no music box in the room but that only seemed to upset him even more. For the rest of the night and a good part of the following day, he clung to Leonardo, sobbing and shivering, begging not to be left alone.

_~Fin~_


End file.
